This past week I entered several different tournaments. During several of those tournaments there was at least 1 player who played a few hands and then sat out for the remainder of the game. I noticed that this is happening more and more. It makes no sense to me to do that as it seems to be a waste of chips (unless there is some way to place or win that way), plus it takes away a seat for someone who really wants to play, especially on a 9 player tournament table. So, my question is, how do you the individual players feel about this and should there be something done about it penalty wise. I know this subject was brought up in 2013, but I feel it needs to be addressed again, as it appears that there was no resolution to this problem that I could see.
Hi P, 
Putting aside the possibility of a lost connection or getting pulled away by something more important, I believe some players do use sitting out as a strategy especially with a large stack. You can get to second place this way, even to first if you have two sit-outs and a big enough stack.
As slow as many s-n-gs are to fill up, I don’t really agree about taking away seats from other players. If anything the game starts sooner.
As far as wasting chips goes, if someone wants to donate their chips to the prize pool it is no skin off my back.
Since sitting out is within the rules there can (and should) be no penalty other than that which is stated in the rules: forfeit after a certain number of missed hands.
There is no difference (other than eventual forfeit) between sitting out and not sitting out but folding every hand. Should players not be allowed to fold any hand they want to? If players are permitted to fold any hand then they are permitted to fold every hand. And if they are allowed to fold every hand then what is the problem with letting the computer do it for them?
As long as the rules are followed, I do not see why anyone has to play according to someone else’s idea of how the game should be played.
I truly do not understand why folks seem to get so upset about this.
Just my two and a half cents worth…
Peace!
I agree sometimes things do come up mid game and sometimes connections are lost so a player should be allowed to sit out a little bit, but at some point you have to draw the line. I think you can use the same logic as it done for no shows, if they sit out for 2 or 3 full blind levels they should be removed. This gives you a reasonable amount of time to respond to a “crisis” at home but limits the amount of time the other players have to play with a ghost at their table. Ghosts at a final table are complete BS and a ghost making it to the money should never be allowed to happen within reason. I have been heads up vs a ghost a few times and it is a total waste of time.
I have seen other sites where if you sit out more than 9 consecutive hands you are removed (with a warning and countdown the last 5 hands),
From the help section:
Are players allowed to sit out during tournaments?
Yes. Sitting out (essentially folding every hand) is a legal tactic in both real money and play money poker.
Think of it this way: After a tournament has started, a player cannot decide to pick up their chips and leave. Similarly, we cannot decide to arbitrarily remove a player and their chips from a tournament once it has started. All chips at the start of a tournament must also be at the final table in order for the game to be fair to everyone.
A player who is sitting out actually puts his opponents at a significant advantage. The player who is sitting out is still forced to pay his blinds and antes, and is never able to build his stack. It’s best to think of a player who is sitting out as simply folding every hand. This is a completely legal tactic, as it is up to any individual player to decide his own best strategy. For this reason, almost every online poker room allows entrants to sit out indefinitely during a tournament.
We do what we can to discourage this sort of behavior, but once a player has paid their entry, they are entitled to play their chips any way they like within the rules of the game.
Did you win first place? if so, imho, not a waste of time, maybe not fun or exciting, but not a waste of time. Unless all you care about is the thrill of the game in which case why did you continue to play against the ghost? Once you had a bigger stack you would have won first place regardless. 
Peace!
I don’t think there should be a penalty, you don’t know the reason they’re sitting out anyway.
When this does happen when I’m playing, I don’t mind one bit since it’s one less player to go up against while they’re constantly donating their blinds and antes. Of course I’m talking about tournaments, I think if a player sits out too long at the ring they should be removed from the table after awhile, not sure how many hands.
That is exactly what happens in ring games, I’m not sure how many hands though.
Tournament points are only awarded to players who were present (not away) for at least 50% of the hands in their tournament.
#replay can increase this percentage to 75, I think that will help
Sounds fair.
A few months ago I was trying to compete for free chips in the 1st 7 Opal Gemstone league and I fell asleep, so I received a zero for tourney points, which screwed me in the league, but I deserved it, shouldn’t have signed up at my bedtime. 
Hi das32343, southwestmba, Sarah and TheKnutts. I know that sitting out, along with a few other things, are within the rules and I know everyone has a different opinion as to this issue. You are all correct in that no one really knows why that player or players are sitting out. There could be a good reason for it and that is okay. If you are playing in a tournament with a high number of entrees, then it would not be that noticeable and no one would really object. However, when a player is in a tournament with a limited amount of players, like 3 and 9 as in the s n g, sometimes it can be annoying. I know that everyone wants to win and I am no different, but I am also there to enjoy the game, but that is just me. Thank you all for expressing your opinions on this matter. See you all on the tables.
why are tournament players allowed to just sit out, round after round…it seems a weak player strategy to me…or am i the slow one?
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